1 post in this topic

The first of the Last Chance qualifiers for the $50,000 SL i-League StarSeries took place on Tuesday with Cipher emerging victorious, and five players being eliminated from the tournament. The format was single elimination best of five conquest.

Players who reached the second group stage got a first round bye in this event, but StrifeCro and Cipher did it the hard way, coming through two matches instead of one to reach the final. StrifeCro overcame Kranich 3-1 in the first round and then Trump 3-1 in the second. Cipher beat Xixo 3-1 and then Thijs 3-2 in his two matches.

One of the talking points of the night was StrifeCro being the only player to bring Control Priest. This had worked out for him well, with the deck going 2-0 in the previous rounds. However, against Cipher he quickly fell 2-0 behind using Priest, as Cipher won with Secret Paladin and then ground out a win with Mid Druid. This left Cipher only needing to win with RenoLock to qualify for the LAN event next month.

StrifeCro won the next two games with Mid Druid and Demon Handlock, to set up a thrilling final game with Priest against RenoLock. This game was fitting of a decider, with StrifeCro's final play when facing unstoppable lethal being to play Nozdormu that he got from Golden Monkey, and stealth it with spare part Finicky Cloakfield to trigger animations in Cipher's turn. With Cipher in fatigue, the animations took even longer, but he kept his cool to attack for the win.

This is a great result for Cipher, who has been touted by his peers for some time now as one of the best players in Europe but who has had a run of bad results in streamed matches.

The second Last Chance qualifier will involve Hoej, Orange, Neirea and StanCifka playing in the first round and JAB and Lifecoach entering the event in the second round.

Diablo’s 20th Anniversary will take place in the beginning of 2017 and it will be celebrated in all other Blizzard games. Let’s take a look at the special Diablo-themed Tavern Brawl planned for Hearthstone.
During the release of the latest Hearthstone patch, a new Diabloesque card back was discovered. According to an article by Hearthpwn, where we found all this information, this card back is tied to an upcoming Tavern Brawl called “[The] Dark Wanderer”.

The chalk board, heroes, hero powers and some cards of minions, spells and secrets of this upcoming Brawl have been datamined and you can find them in the same Hearthpwn article. The two players will take on the roles of the Dark Wanderer and the Cow King, two figures we all recognise from Diablo II. Presumably, the card back will be rewarded after your first victory in the Brawl.
We are expecting this new Tavern Brawl during the first weeks of January 2017 – just like the other Diablo celebrations in Blizzard games (most notably in World of Warcraft).